Information Management in Health 

The Health Care Systems in different countries are faced with myriad problems ranging from inaccessibility, cost, effectiveness, and meeting the expectation of the people. The main problem in the health care industry however, is management of the information systems. An information system is an arrangement of data, the processes for obtaining and storing the data, and the persons whose information is stored, processed or analyzed by the system (Ernst et al, 2006). This paper discusses the problem of information system management in health care systems.Information Management in Health

Health care continues to lag behind as other sector embrace Information Technology for information systems (Lee, 2009). This delay is due to the complexity of the health care information. Health care does not rely entirely on stored information to treat patients. Health workers use experience and a condition may be unique and does not require referencing of information. The information used by health care providers is in different forms such as images, graphics, pictures and tabular formats.

Integrating this kind of information has posed a challenge to managers of health care systems. The confidential nature of health information has been an obstacle in health care information management. It would be unethical to store a patient’s health information in a system that is open to the public. Integration of information from different sections of a health care facility also poses a challenge. Information from a maternity ward is completely incompatible to those from HIV/AIDS department.

Different information systems have to be used for the different types of patients. For a health care system to be efficient, the executives must be conversant with the information system of the health care (Lee, 2009). The evolution in information management has posed a great challenge to health care managers all over the world (Ernst et al, 2006). First, the fact that managers of health care systems do not understand the basic terms and concepts on information management has rendered the information systems of health care ineffective.

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Most health care information systems fail to meet international standards in proper storing of information such as admission, discharge, laboratory results, and pharmacy records on patients. This has hampered service delivering to patients when the information stored is required. Information systems that are not easily accessible or cannot safely store data for referencing purposes should be replaced with more efficient and technologically secure once. Poor training or lack of the necessary skills to manage the information systems has contributed a great deal to mismanagement of information systems in health care systems.

Poor information management has led to financial unaccountability since proper and safe record keeping is lacking. Patients’ billing processes are not efficient and the system incurs losses due to lack of accurate cost reporting. A shared central information system should be adopted by hospitals to enable patients and doctors in different health facilities to access quick service. Individual information systems by hospitals makes tracing of information on a patient difficult.

The management of a health care system should be at par with technological advances by adopting the use of the internet, wireless technology, and voice recognition technology to help retrieve patient information (Ernst et al, 2006). More focus should be on electronic health recording that is tamper-proof. The information system should aim at providing improved care to patients. Conclusion It is imperative upon the management of health care to develop an information system that serves both administrative and clinical duties effectively.

The system should be accessible, with data stored in a form easily understandable by both the patients and the health workers. Proper administrative information storage encourages accountability especially on finances and proper labor and customer relations. References Ernst & Young. (2006). G20 health care: Health care systems and health market reform in the G20 countries. The World Economic Forum. Lee, W. F. (2009). Health care information systems: A practical approach for health care management. Kindle Books.Information Management in Health